Common Misdiagnoses and Night terror

Undiagnosed stroke leads to misdiagnosed aphasia: BBC News UK reported on a man who
had been institutionalized and treated for mental illness
because he suffered from sudden inability to speak.
This was initially misdiagnosed as a "nervous breakdown" and other mental conditions.
He was later diagnosed as having had a stroke, and suffering from aphasia (inability to speak),
a well-known complication of stroke (or other brain conditions).

Dementia may be a drug interaction: A common scenario in aged care is for
a patient to show mental decline to dementia.
Whereas this can, of course, occur due to various medical conditions,
such as a stroke or Alzheimer's disease,
it can also occur from a side effect or interaction between multiple drugs
that the elderly patient may be taking.
There are also various other possible causes of dementia.

RLS sleep disorder causing night-time leg sensations often misdiagnosed: A common but relatively unknown
sleep-related disorder called Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS) is often misdiagnosed.
The typical symptoms are night-time tingling, crawling, or burning sensations in the legs,
with the irresistable urge to move the legs.
This need for leg movement leads to tossing and turning, or getting up out of bed,
all of which interferes with the ability to fall asleep.
The sufferer then has the typical symptoms of sleep deprivation during the day: fatigue, tiredness,
morning headaches, irritability, poor concentration and so on.
This condition is sometimes misdiagnosed as other conditions
such as ADHD, sleep disorders, other causes of insomnia, or other causes of leg tingling.
Many patients also suffer from a related disorder called
Periodic limb movement disorder (PLMD), which causes leg spasms
or other jerky movements.
See introduction to RLS or introduction to PLMD.

ADHD under-diagnosed in adults: Although the over-diagnoses of ADHD
in children is a well-known controversy, the reverse side related to adults.
Some adults can remain undiagnosed, and indeed the condition has usually been
overlooked throughout childhood.
There are as many as 8 million adults with ADHD in the USA (about 1 in 25 adults in the USA).
See misdiagnosis of ADHD or symptoms of ADHD.

Bipolar disorder misdiagosed as various conditions by primary physicians: Bipolar disorder (manic-depressive disorder)
often fails to be diagnosed correctly by primary care physicians.
Many patients with bipolar seek help from their physician, rather than a psychiatrist
or psychologist.
See misdiagnosis of bipolar disorder.

Depression undiagnosed in teenagers: Serious bouts of depression can be
undiagnosed in teenagers.
The "normal" moodiness of teenagers can cause severe medical depression
to be overlooked.
See misdiagnosis of depression or symptoms of depression.

About misdiagnosis:

When checking for a misdiagnosis of Night terror
or confirming a diagnosis of Night terror,
it is useful to consider what other
medical conditions might be possible misdiagnoses or other alternative
conditions relevant to diagnosis.
These alternate diagnoses of Night terror may already have
been considered by your doctor or may need to be considered as possible
alternative diagnoses or candidates for misdiagnosis of Night terror.
For a general overview of misdiagnosis issues for all diseases,
see Overview of Misdiagnosis.

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